EGYPT'S electoral commission has reversed a decision to bar the last prime minister appointed by ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, from running in the country's May 23 presidential election.

"The electoral commission ... has decided to give its green light for Ahmed Shafiq's candidacy in the presidential election, having accepted his appeal," the official MENA news agency reported today.

On Tuesday the election panel had barred Mr Shafiq from running, to comply with a Bill adopted by the Islamist-dominated parliament earlier this month banning the candidacies of all senior Mubarak-era officials.

Mr Shafiq, a general and former civil aviation minister, was named prime minister in the final days of Mubarak's three-decade rule last year as he battled an 18-day popular uprising.

Mubarak-era intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who briefly served as vice-president, was also disqualified on the technical grounds that he failed to secure the statutory number of endorsements from all the country's provinces.

The electoral commission is due to publish a definitive list of candidates today.

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